I Spent Weeks Testing 11 Disposable Diaper Brands—Here Are the 4 Best

Choosing a diaper is one of the first decisions you’re likely to make as a new parent. And it’s an important one: newborns go through about 2,500 to 3,000 diapers within their first year, and thousands more after that. 

As a mom of two kids seven years apart, I’ve changed more diapers than I care to think about over the last decade or so. But I’d never done a head-to-head diaper comparison—until now.

I spent weeks testing 11 of the most popular disposable diaper brands on the market. I stretched, sniffed and prodded; I fastened and unfastened tabs; I put them on and off (and on and off, and on and off) an infant baby doll. I spoke to a 35-year diaper industry veteran about the chemistry of diapers: what they’re made of, how they work and what parents should look for when shopping. I even set up a mini diaper testing lab across my dining room table.

After all of my testing, three brands rose to the top of the list: Pampers Swaddlers, Huggies Little Snugglers and Kirkland Signature. And since many parents are looking for a cleaner, environmentally friendlier diaper option, I added Kudos as an honorable mention pick.

Editor's note: Since the time of this writing, we learned that Costco's Kirkland diapers are shifting suppliers. First Quality is replacing Kimberly-Clark Corp. as of January 2025. (Kimberly-Clark is shifting away from store brands to boost profitability.) Once we have our hands on the new diapers, we'll retest and update this guide accordingly.

The Best Disposable Diapers

Babylist Pick: Pampers Swaddlers

Pampers Pampers Swaddlers - Size 1 (160 Count)

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Pros

• Top performer in overall performance rankings
• Snug but flexible fit; high back to contain blowouts
• Tabs are easy to grab and fasten
• Wide inner and outer ruffles

Cons

• Strong fragrance
• Spotty coverage in dryness test

I wasn’t all that surprised that Pampers Swaddlers landed one of the top spots on this best disposable diapers list. Named as the favorite brand of disposable diapers by over 30% of the thousands of Babylist parents polled in our Favorite Baby Products survey, parents love them for their fit and their leak protection. While they’re not the most affordable diaper on our list, they’re competitively priced, with a unit cost of 32 cents. (The average unit cost of the 11 diapers I tested was 28 cents.) And, they also scored extremely high on my performance rating scale, earning 22 of the possible 25 points.

Pampers Swaddlers have it all. They’re super soft, snug but flexible, and, based on customer comments, fit a wide range of babies well. The high back portion of the diaper caught my attention; it’s something I always look for in a diaper to protect against blowouts.

I was also really impressed by the ruffles. (Quick explainer: Those ruffles on your baby’s diaper are for more than just show! Diaper ruffles help contain the mess and prevent leaks. Always make sure they’re fluffed outward after every diaper change.) Both the outer and inner ruffles on Swaddlers are the best of any of the diapers I tested. They’re wide and extremely pleated, which helps to contain all the bodily fluids you’re sure to encounter as a parent. The tabs scored high, too—they’re easy to grab, easy to fasten and didn’t lose their grip even after I adjusted them a few times.

Dryness-wise, Swaddlers didn’t perform the best out of all of the diapers on our list, but they did perform really well, scoring a four out of five on my scale and far outperforming many of the other diapers I tested. There was a bit of liquid pooling in some areas of the topsheet, but other than that, the diaper did a solid job of absorbing and wicking the testing liquid.

My only gripe about Pampers Swaddlers is the fragrance—it’s strong, and as someone who prefers fragrance-free diapers, it’s not for me. However, others feel very differently. While I was testing diapers for this guide, our caregiver walked by and inhaled the scent of Pampers Swaddlers with a big smile on her face. “This reminds me of my grandkids,” she said. For a just-as-great scent-free option, check out Pampers Pure Protection—they performed almost as well as Swaddlers and have zero fragrance.

Babylist Pick: Huggies Little Snugglers

Babylist Pick: Kirkland

Honorable Mention: Kudos

The Research

How I chose which diapers to test

To kick off my diaper testing process, I started with research. My first step was figuring out which diapers I should include for testing. To do this, I looked at the most popular disposable diapers from the places where parents shop the most: retailers like Target, Amazon and Walmart. I reviewed sales rankings and read customer reviews. I also researched direct-to-consumer and subscription diaper brands and what’s available at warehouse clubs like Costco. 

Next, I dug into Babylist data. I researched which disposable diapers parents-to-be add to their Babylist registry the most and what sells in the Babylist Shop. I also analyzed results from Babylist’s Favorite Baby Products survey and noted which disposable diaper brands rose to the top and what parents had to say about them. And I talked to everyone I could about diapers—friends, coworkers and parents—to learn about their go-to diaper brands and the ones they steer clear of.

I ended up with a list of 11 disposable diapers to put to the test:

• Pampers Swaddlers

• Pampers Pure Protection

• Huggies Little Snugglers

• Huggies Skin Essentials

• Honest Clean Conscious

• Luvs Platinum Protection

• Kudos

• Mama Bear Gentle Touch

• Parent’s Choice Dry & Gentle

• Coterie 

• Kirkland Signature

The anatomy of a diaper

Diapers aren’t as straightforward as many other baby products—turns out there’s a whole lot of science going on under those tabs. I turned to chemist and diaper-industry veteran Jim Robinson to help me understand the science behind this everyday baby product.

A diaper has a few main components:

• Topsheet: The topsheet is the part of a diaper that’s closest to baby’s skin. Its purpose is to allow urine to flow into the diaper—and stay there.

• Acquisition and distribution layer: This diaper layer sits right beneath the topsheet and is a place for fluid to go in and move up and down the length of the diaper before it gets sucked into the interior. 

• Absorbent core: A diaper's absorbent core holds in the fluid. It’s usually made up of a mixture of fluff pulps (bleached fibers from ground-up trees are one example of fluff pulp) and superabsorbent polymer. The fluff absorbs and wicks the fluid away from the “dose point” (fancy chemist terms for “the spot where your child peed”) faster, so it reaches the superabsorbent more slowly, then locks it in.

• Backsheet: The backsheet is the exterior portion of a diaper—the part that faces the world.

• Closure system: This keeps the diaper closed. A closure system can include tabs with hook and loop or stretchy sides for a pull-on diaper. 

“These components are in every diaper, but the makeup of the components can change,” explains Robinson. “For instance, some diapers talk about using cotton topsheets, so instead of having a polypropylene fiber (a type of synthesized plastic) against baby’s skin, they have cotton.” 

And speaking of plastics, I also spoke to Robinson about the growing trend toward “cleaner” diapers, both from an ingredients perspective and an environmental one. “The push, and it’s mostly coming from Europe and starting to show up in the North American market…is to get away from petroleum-based products to ones that have materials that, when they break down, don’t form persistent microplastics,” he explained. “It’s a slow push, because these replacement materials are much more expensive to make.” 

He also noted that there’s no difference in safety for your baby’s skin. “[Current] disposable diapers have been around in the US market since the mid-1980s and they are so thoroughly researched for safety—there’s nothing in them that would be harmful,” he says.

What makes a good diaper?

Armed with my Diaper 101 knowledge and my list of what to test, I started thinking through the question of what makes a good diaper. The first thing that came to mind was fit, because that can often determine how well a diaper does (or doesn’t) contain a mess. But the thing about diaper fit is it’s subjective. A diaper that fits a baby with a rounder belly well may not work at all on a taller, thinner baby. The same brand of diaper may work for your eight-month-old but suddenly start leaking everywhere once your baby begins to walk. Fit is important, but it’s personal, so for the purposes of this analysis, I’m taking it out of the equation.

I landed on some less subjective diaper features to help me think through what makes the best disposable diaper.

• Softness. Baby skin is delicate and sensitive, especially during the newborn days. And your baby will have a diaper resting against their skin 24/7 for at least a few years. A good disposable should be made from materials that are as soft and comfortable as possible, both inside and out.

• Stretch. Babies come in all different shapes and sizes. While you can’t fully control fit, a diaper that stretches to conform to the broadest range of babies’ weights and sizes offers the best chance of a good fit and, ultimately, fewer leaks. I looked for diapers with good stretch (but not too much) around the belly and leg openings.

• Ruffles. Before I had kids, I never realized the importance of the ruffles around the leg openings of diapers. They’re cute—but they also help control leaks and blowouts by acting as a containment barrier between the mess inside the diaper and the outside world. (Pro tip: always make sure the ruffles are untucked and flared out at every diaper change.) A good diaper should have large ruffles that are extra…ruffly, for lack of a better word. (Think lots and lots of pleats.) I also looked at the inner ruffle area on either side of the topsheet—I wanted to see a ruffle that was high and wide.

• Closures (tabs). A good diaper should have wide tabs that are easy to grab and easy to open and close. (Fumbling with a bad diaper tab is frustrating and can slow down a diaper change.) The hook and loop closure should be secure, even if you have to readjust the tabs a few times to get a good fit.

• Dryness and absorbency. Babies may pee as much as every one to three hours, so even if you’re super on top of diaper changes, odds are your little one is going to be spending at least some time in a wet diaper. While a little wetness is inevitable, a good diaper should absorb liquids quickly and pull it away from your baby’s skin to keep them as dry and comfy as possible. 

• Cost. On average, a baby will go through between 2,500 and 3,000 diapers within their first year. With the average cost of a diaper on our list coming in at 28 cents, most parents want to be conscious of price when diaper shopping. But you’ll also need to weigh cost against performance, something I factored into my testing.

A few more features I thought through but didn’t put quite as much weight on:

• Materials and ingredients. As our diaper expert mentioned above, disposable diapers as we know them today have been around for a long time and have undergone decades of safety testing. While ingredients and materials certainly do matter, especially if you or your baby are particularly sensitive to a certain fragrance or ingredient, rest assured that the vast majority of diapers sold in the US are safe and that decision-making around these factors is often a matter of personal preference. 

• Fragrance. Like fit, diaper fragrance often comes down to personal preference. Personally, I’m not a fan of most diaper fragrances and much prefer fragrance-free options. However, other parents and caregivers may disagree. 

• Environmental impact. This is a tough one, as disposable diapers pose some pretty big environmental issues. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, disposable diapers make up about seven percent of nondurable household waste in landfills. But, the most popular, most affordable and easiest-to-get disposable diapers on the market are not compostable or biodegradable. Claims like “better for the Earth,” “more natural,” or “sustainable” are loaded—and often very nuanced—claims. And many eco-friendly diapers don’t work nearly as well as their more traditional counterparts. 

A note on diaper ingredients. While materials and ingredients certainly matter, exercise some caution around overarching claims like “clean”—many times it’s all just marketing. “You’re suddenly seeing products on the shelf [saying] free from this, free from that,” says Robinson. “Well, they’ve always been free from these things; they’re just telling you that now,” he explains. “Elemental chlorine hasn’t been used in diapers for 30 years in the United States, but ‘free from elemental chlorine’ is all you hear now,” he cautions.

The Testing

It was almost time to live out my dream of running a diaper testing lab in my dining room.

Because fit plays such a big role in a diaper’s performance, I knew firsthand testing with an actual baby would be too subjective for the purposes of this guide. So instead, I ordered a box of each diaper on my list—size newborn whenever possible, otherwise size one—and spent a few weeks testing them out via a points-based rating system. I zeroed in on five key areas: softness, tabs, stretch, ruffles and dryness. I assigned each diaper zero to five points within each metric, for a maximum score of 25 points.

For the first four features—softness, tabs, stretch and ruffles—I evaluated each diaper by examining them individually and against the competition. I pulled, poked, prodded and sniffed, and even did a few fit checks on my baby model.

My dryness test is where things started to get fun. I initially planned on doing a capacity/absorbency test with each diaper, but, per the advice of my diaper industry expert, opted for a dryness test instead. That’s because almost every diaper on the market today can hold much more urine than any baby would ever excrete. (A typical diaper can hold about one liter—1,000 grams—of fluid, and even after overnight use, most diapers have only about 200 grams of fluid in them.)

Per Robinson’s recommendation, I created a dryness test to mimic the feel of a wet diaper against a baby’s skin. To mimic urine, I created a one percent salt solution using water + table salt (since urine is not pure water) and added blue food coloring. I dosed the middle of each diaper with about 30 milliliters of liquid and let it settle in for one minute. I then added a blotter—in my case, half of a small paper towel folded over four times—and a heavy water glass, and waited about three minutes. I scored the dryness metric both on how wet the paper towel blotter was at the end and the overall feel of the diaper’s topsheet.

Here’s how the performance rankings shook out:

Next, I wanted to consider cost. While a diaper may perform well, if it’s outrageously expensive, that’s a problem for most families. I researched the lowest price for each brand of disposable diaper on my list across a few big-box retailers and calculated the unit cost for each.

The Competition

The four diapers at the top of this guide were my standout favorites. Here’s a breakdown of how the other disposable diapers I tried shook out.

Pampers Pure Protection ranked just under the other Pampers diapers I tested, Swaddlers, coming in with a 21 out of 25 performance score. My favorite thing about them is that they’re fragrance-free; they’re a great option if, like me, you love the performance of Pampers Swaddlers but not the scent. They aren’t quite as soft, though, and they performed slightly below Swaddlers in my dryness experiment.

I had high hopes for Huggies Skin Essentials based on how impressed I was by Huggies Little Snugglers, but unfortunately, these diapers fell short. The biggest miss was how little liquid they held onto in my testing. While Little Snugglers were by far the driest diapers I tested, Skin Essentials were some of the lowest scoring, almost completely soaking my blotter. 

I used Honest diapers with my first son over 10 years ago and was always very happy with them; however, the Honest Clean Conscious diapers didn’t perform as well as the brand’s previous version, especially considering their higher price point. I do love that they’re fragrance-free and made from plant-based materials, but they fell short in dryness and I found the tabs super challenging to grasp and open.

Luvs Platinum Protection is the second most affordable diaper on my list with a unit cost of 14 cents per diaper—a huge savings when compared to some of our top picks. They were an average to slightly above-average performer in my testing, scoring the lowest in dryness and ruffles. If they fit your child well, though, they’re worth trying if you’re looking for a less expensive pick.

Amazon’s brand of disposable diapers, Mama Bear Gentle Touch, is another fairly cost-conscious diaper brand, but performed slightly worse than Luvs in my testing. My paper towel blotter was really wet after the liquids test, and while the inner and outer ruffles were decent, I found the diaper’s lining to be fairly thin. 

Another store brand, Parent’s Choice Dry & Gentle from Walmart, is the most affordable pick of all of the diapers I tested, with a unit cost of 10 cents per diaper—almost 70% cheaper per diaper than most of my top picks. My biggest knock against these diapers is their super thin lining that didn’t lock in moisture; however, the tabs are solid, as are the ruffles, and they’re very stretchy. They also run the smallest out of all of the diapers I tried.

Coterie diapers knock it out of the park in terms of softness and comfort; they are by far the softest disposable diapers around. They’re also the diapers I used the most (and loved) with my second son. They scored 21.5/25 in my performance testing, which is quite high. However, they are incredibly expensive, with a monthly subscription unit cost of 48 cents per diaper and a 53 cents per diaper cost if you don’t want to subscribe—and that cost is what kept them off of my list. And while I never experienced leaks or blowouts with them, the one area where they were lacking was in dryness.

A Note on Diaper Sizing

An ill-fitting diaper will often lead to lots of leaks and a blowout or two, so it’s important to find the right size (and fit) for your baby. A brand’s weight guidelines are a good place to start, but many babies fit better into a diaper that’s larger or smaller than what a brand might recommend. Look for a diaper that:

• Hits right below your baby’s belly button

• Fastens symmetrically on either side

• Fits snugly, but doesn’t dig into your baby’s skin and still allows them to move around comfortably

If you begin experiencing issues with a diaper you and your baby already liked, it’s probably time to move up a size. (Newborn sizes go up to about 10 pounds, so your little one will probably grow into the next size around one month, depending on how much they weighed when they were born.)